Home Fires Burning
by ForASecondThereWe'dWon
Summary: Betty's lying in bed when she hears a series of loud banging noises. Jughead's outside Betty's room on the ladder and knows the first one was him, but thinks he'd better get inside quick since he can't identify the others. Anything could happen when Betty and Jughead find themselves literally and metaphorically in the dark in this ep. 12 add-on. Rated M for a sweaty winter's night.


Jughead left Archie standing just inside the doorway, that only half-apologetic look on his face. Outside, the brisk air whisked Jughead's anger away like steam off a scalding cup of coffee; he couldn't stay mad at Archie, not when he'd been let down so much more frequently and so much worse by people who really _were_ his family. Jughead watched his breath float and glimmer in the Andrews' front porch light. Just like that vapour, he couldn't last here. As accommodating as Archie and his dad had been, Jughead knew his role as the _Little Princess_ in their attic was as unsustainable as his previous stint as Harry Potter in that Riverdale High closet.

He stopped in front of Archie's barely-used music studio, staring down his dim reflection in the door's window. Jughead knew his dad would be counting on him to get by. His mom would be thinking the same thing, if she was thinking of him at all tonight, since their brief phone call. Jughead dwelled on it a moment too long and the smirk that dragged his mouth up felt painful and unnatural. Backwards, glass-Jughead's sarcastic look sickened him and he dropped his eyes.

They would be expecting him to survive, but he decided it wasn't going to be like this. He wouldn't spend his last night before the shit really hit the fan sleeping like a fucking raccoon in the Andrews' garage. No, he wasn't angry anymore, but he was so _tired_. Looking back at his reflection, Jughead could see the purple scoops under his eyes.

He hadn't noticed the light was on until it went out, and he found his head was turning to search for it. _Betty_.

* * *

 _BANG!_

Jughead's foot slipped off the rung and the top of the ladder bounced and slammed into the side of the house. He winced and caught the sides of the ladder in a death grip, as if holding it more securely now could somehow muffle the noise that had already been made. His heart started to pound as fight-or-flight set in, but Jughead's rationality told him his best chance was to climb and let Betty spin a cover story to her mom about the sound's origin while he hid in her closet.

Nearly at the top, Jughead heard a second disturbance and peered cautiously up over the sill in time to see Betty racing out of her room in her pajamas. Jughead's eyebrows pulled together; his natural inclination was to yank up the window and run after Betty. He hadn't realized that the instinct to follow her into an investigation was so deeply ingrained. But if he rushed in now, there was no way he'd be able to explain it. Still, better to be close at hand.

Jughead eased the window up and clambered through, catching himself before he could thud onto Betty's floor. He turned and slid the window shut. Jughead looked around nervously for a minute, but it was too dark to see anything beyond Betty's doorway. He glanced down at her bed, where the covers had been flung back. Despite all of the other problems of that night, including the potential danger of whatever had caused the second noise, Jughead's dick jerked. His eyes flicked to the doorway, but there was nothing to see.

Jughead pushed his fingers up under his hat, gripping his hair in exasperation at his own reaction. He was still staring down at Betty's laid-in bed and his brain repurposed the sensation; suddenly Jughead was seeing himself on top of Betty, pressed skin to skin, driving in and out of her. It was _her_ fingers caught in his hair, the tug an obvious expression of the irrepressible desire he sparked in her. Jughead's blood pulsed in his crotch, bringing him back to the reality of his girlfriend's empty room.

After standing outside and scaling the side of the Cooper's house, and maybe also after his short detour into one of his many Betty-centric fantasies, the room was feeling almost swelteringly warm. Jughead pushed his hat from his head and shrugged off his jacket, stuffing his hat in the pocket. He sat on the edge of Betty's bed, jacket across his lap. As he ran his hands unconsciously across the denim, he wondered if Betty would think it looked like he was trying to cover up an erection. Jughead dropped his jacket to the floor and forced it under her bed with his heel. He realized he might as well take his shoes off too, so he unlaced them distractedly, keeping an eye on the doorway. Jughead slid his shoes off, then his socks, and pushed them back to join his jacket.

He could hear faint sounds downstairs now: voices and chairs scraping across the floor. It might be a little while until Betty returned, but at least now Jughead could stop worrying that someone had broken in. Besides himself.

He shifted on Betty's mattress, feeling himself slouch forward in a reminder of how tired he really was. Jughead figured it couldn't hurt to lie down. He could make himself as flat as possible and pull the blankets up over the top of his head so Mrs. Cooper wouldn't spot him if she came in before Betty got back. It might be an even better hiding place than Betty's closet.

Jughead turned and flopped onto his back, reaching across to draw the covers over himself until he was totally insulated. Too insulated. The scent of pure, 100% Betty filled his nose on Jughead's first inhale and suddenly he wasn't tired at all. His cock jumped as his hormones were totally over-engaged. Jughead was snuggled into the warmth Betty had left for him (unwittingly) and she was the only thing on his mind.

Betty pushed all other thoughts away, the way Jughead often fantasized about shoving the heaps of papers from the _Blue and Gold_ desk to the floor so he could lay his brilliant, blonde girlfriend back and give it to her. Of course, in situations where he'd been thinking that lately, Jughead had just adopted his signature serious expression and pretended to be deep in thought while Betty brainstormed the Jason Blossom case aloud. Here, in her room, in her _bed_ , ticking towards midnight, there was no innocent escape.

Jughead's erection reacted, pressing upwards so emphatically that Jughead began to worry it would be the thing to give him away if anybody walked into Betty's room. He reached down, unzipping his jeans and kicking them off, before grabbing them and shooting them deep under Betty's bed, out of sight.

Now, there was nothing for it but to lay there in a kind of agony, resisting the urge to flip over and rub himself against the spot where Betty's hips had lately rested. Jughead raised his head just high enough to let it thump back against the mattress and groaned.

* * *

Betty scuffed back into her room and slammed the door shut behind her, hoping the bang would make more of an impact than her words had been able to. She was beyond annoyed that, after actually letting her in on a serious discussion for once, her parents had decided to leave for Thornhill without her. As if Betty didn't have an equal right to confront the people who had known all along that Polly's baby was the product of incest. As if Betty hadn't been the one steady, dependable person in Polly's life. Between her parents and herself, Betty thought she would have been the obvious choice to talk her sister into coming home. Really, she had been the only one of them not to basically kidnap Polly and shut her away from the world.

Betty smacked her closed door with an open palm, then took a deep breath. She might as well go back to bed. Her mom and dad would take their time venting their rage to the Blossoms―their journalistic instinct to go back over every little detail and hold Clifford and Penelope to account would be irresistible. Then, when things had ended with some cutting remark (likely coming from her mother, since Betty knew from experience that she would always lash out with the last word), her parents would hurry Polly away. Her sister had changed in these last months though. She had become stubborn and fiery and Betty knew that Polly would not be meekly led _anywhere_ without a second explanation. With the added time for the fallout of that confrontation, Betty couldn't see her family arriving home for several hours.

She shoved away from the door and crossed to her window, watching the taillights of her mother's car flash away down their dark street. It would have been only too easy to jerk the window up and scream after them, or throw something heavy in their wake. Tempting, but a waste of energy, and definitely not a healthy reaction. Betty exhaled slowly and sank down onto her bed. Maybe if she laid down, her frustration could run off her like water and she'd be able to get some sleep.

Betty realized she was sitting on top of her comforter so she rose again to draw it back. There was something―someone―in her bed and Betty's voice leapt into a ringing scream. A hand shot out to grab her before she could stumble too far from the bed and Betty covered her mouth to temper her reaction, realizing it was Jughead.

"Jesus, Juggy!" Betty breathed, dropping her hand. She stopped trying to yank her arm out of his grasp and Jughead slid his palm down to hold her hand instead. He had propped himself up on an elbow and was now shifting further back onto her bed, guiding her forward into the empty space.

"I'm―I'm really―I'm sorry, Betty."

Betty clicked on her bedside light and clearly saw that Jughead was struggling not to laugh. She glared at him, but sat down next to her boyfriend, drawing her legs up under the blankets; her feet were getting cold.

"You do realize that there's a murderer still loose in this town, right? I mean, was it just me or have we not agreed that your father's framing is obvious to everyone but Sheriff Keller?"

Jughead put his other hand on Betty's back. His palm felt annoyingly warm and comforting.

"I'm sorry, Betty. If I promise that I'm not here to murder you, will you lay down?"

He was still smirking and Betty couldn't help but join him, adding an eye roll. Jughead moved his arm away and Betty lay back, feeling him slip his arm under her neck. Betty rolled over to face him, towards his heat, and realized she'd never been horizontal with Jughead before. The closest to this position they'd ever been was slumping back into one of the couches in their school's student lounge. Suddenly, Betty was afraid to move. If she came closer, would he think she was making a move on him? If she backed off, would it register as rejection? This close to Jughead, Betty was nervous to even breathe too hard.

Jughead seemed much more relaxed. His hand came up to the back of her head and he tugged out her elastic. Betty's hair spun out of its bun and Jughead tossed the elastic in the direction of her bedside table.

"You keep your hair back that tight even when you sleep? Ouch." He started running his fingers over her scalp and Betty let out a quiet noise of pleasure, closing her eyes. She breathed slowly in and out. This situation was fine. She could handle it. She should just talk to Jughead normally and then it would feel like they were hanging out together anywhere.

Betty opened her eyes and Jughead's face was much nearer than it had been. Their heads were definitely on the same pillow. In the warm light of her lamp, Jughead's face was soft. The smudges under his eyes didn't look as severe as they had that morning in the cafeteria. The colour of his eyes was dreamier. His lips… his lips looked softer too. Betty licked her lower lip and watched Jughead watch her. Talking would definitely be safer.

"So what are you doing here?"

Jughead's mouth curved up and Betty wanted to roll him onto his back and get on top of him. "I saw you reverse-Gatsbying me."

Betty's face scrunched up and she shook her head in confusion. "I'm sorry, _what_ was I doing?"

"I was standing outside across the street and I noticed your light go out."

Betty smoothed her voice into a monotone. "Ah yes, I forgot we'd just switched all the bulbs to green."

"And that Mr. Andrews recently had his porch extended out into a dock?"

Betty smiled. "Pre-emptive I'm guessing, in case all this snow and ice ever melts and Sweetwater floods all the way up here. I'm surprised you're not freezing, by the way." She pulled her hand out of Jughead's and ran it up his arm, unused to feeling so much _bare_ arm. "I hope you didn't come over here in short sleeves."

Jughead put his hand on Betty's waist while she played with the edge of his t-shirt sleeve. He shook his head. "My jacket's under your bed."

Betty raised her eyebrow. "Settling right in then?"

Jughead laughed. "I may have been here a little while."

Betty smiled in premature sympathy. She knew that Jughead might not appreciate her questions right now, but finding him in her bed late at night wasn't exactly typical.

"Juggy, what's going on? Why aren't you at Archie's? He was really worried about you last night when we didn't know where you were. I'm sure he'd like to spend some time with you."

Jughead turned his face to the ceiling and sighed.

"I think I might be the anti-Littlest Hobo."

Betty frowned and laid her palm on the side of Jughead's face to bring it back towards her. At this point, she didn't need to say anything for him to know that she wanted him to elaborate.

"No matter where I go, people don't want me to stay."

"Don't say that, Juggy. It's not even true."

His eyebrows drew together and his look grew hard.

"Oh really? You didn't hear Archie's dad tonight. My days under the Andrews roof are numbered." He rubbed a hand across his eyes in what Betty interpreted as mental exhaustion.

"Oh, Juggy." Betty traced her finger up his temple and over his forehead until Jughead's face relaxed. "You can stay here tonight if things are getting tense across the street."

Jughead nodded, looking humbled, but relieved.

"Is that why you came?"

Jughead's eyes looked shiny. "I wanted to be somewhere that felt like… home."

Betty was overwhelmed, feeling both grateful and heartsick. She tilted her chin up and pressed her mouth to Jughead's, then rolled her body towards his.

After a minute of fairly PG kissing, Jughead's face pulled away from hers on the pillow.

"Is this a pity kiss?"

Betty narrowed her eyes at him. "What?"

Jughead's hand fell between their chests and he tapped spastically at the mattress as if he were typing.

"You know. Are you just feeling sad for me?"

Jughead's eyes locked with Betty's and she made hers open to him.

"Absolutely not."

Betty grabbed the back of Jughead's neck and pushed her lips against his, clipping his lip with her teeth in the process. The kiss was rough and lacked the control Betty was normally so careful to implement in her every physical expression―since the night of the hot tub and the handcuffs―but it was perfect for convincing Jughead. He drew her towards him, his palm pressed to her back, and sent a deep groan into her mouth, along with his tongue, which rolled against hers.

Betty reached out with her bare foot, selecting that moment as the one to take them past the sort of kissing and holding that could be done upright. The arch of her foot brushed against Jughead's calf. Jughead's jeans-less calf. Betty's eyes flew open.

"Juggy."

His eyes opened more reluctantly.

"Are you…?" Betty's eyes darted across his face. "Do you not have…?"

Jughead looked at her blankly so Betty trailed her foot lightly up and down his skin. He laughed.

"My jeans are under your bed with my jacket. I'm not naked, Betts. Jeeze."

"Um, so then why…?" Betty anxiously started tucking her undone hair behind her ear.

Jughead's arm loosened around her, his hand coming suddenly down to grip the underside of Betty's thigh. He slid his palm to the back of her knee and tugged her forward with a jerk, making Betty gasp, and hooked her leg over his hip. His erection pressed firmly and obviously against her, blocked by two thin sets of cotton shorts.

"That's why I took them off."

Betty's tongue was suddenly more interested in mapping the roof of her mouth than in helping her form words. She cleared her throat softly.

"You make a compelling argument."

Jughead's blue-green eyes told her he could feel as much of what was between her legs as she could feel what was between his.

"I was here long enough that things started to feel… tight, but not so long that I had time to consider that you might climb in before I had a chance to put my pants back on." Jughead held completely still, but the look he gave Betty got her wet. "Is my desire,"―the word hung between them―"for comfort making you uncomfortable?"

Clearly, Jughead was feeling every bit of what Betty was feeling because at the end of his little speech, his dick swelled, causing it to tap against her the way a self-conscious guest, late to a party, might knock at a door.

Betty felt her face flush.

"Not necessarily."

She tunneled her hand up under the hem of Jughead's t-shirt, resting her palm on his muscled abdomen, and rocked her hips.

Jughead let out the sort of moaning gasp Betty made during a really serious crying session. His eyes closed as he took a deep breath to collect himself.

"Holy shit." He opened his eyes. "That's 'not necessarily'?" Jughead's forehead wrinkled at the forcefulness of his eyebrows' rise. "I can't imagine what total conviction would feel like."

Betty smiled. She pulled her hips away enough to move her hand down the front of Jughead's boxers, brushing the top of his erection with her fingertips. Jughead's fingers dug into the back of her knee and he bit his lower lip.

"Pull my hair right now and you'll own me forever," he murmured.

Betty extricated her hand and smoothed it up the back of Jughead's shirt, rubbing her fingers up his neck, then letting him feel her nails as she pushed slowly into his hair. Her careful movements had Jughead shivering against her, until Betty suddenly collapsed her hand into a fist, tugging sharply at Jughead's hair.

He slammed his hips against Betty's then pressed his body fully to hers, pushing her onto her back. His hand was running up and down her bare thigh as he made love to her over her clothes, Betty's core welcoming his bumping erection by soaking the crotch of her pajama bottoms.

Betty groaned and pressed her torso up against him, getting up on her elbows to bring their chests together. _More, more_ , her brain stuttered. Betty caught the hem of Jughead's t-shirt and drew it up, making Jughead tuck his chin so she could yank it over his head. He shook it down his arms and let it fall over the side of the bed.

Betty's hands were on his skin, stroking over his muscles, when Jughead dropped down to kiss her, the muscles shaping his kiss impressing her as much as the ones on his chest. Betty threw her arms around Jughead's back, holding him to her, winding her foot backwards through his legs so that her thigh was more securely hooked over his hip. The seam of her shorts was pinned between her body and Jughead's nudging erection, rubbing relentlessly over Betty's clit whenever he moved. Betty began working her hips against his and Jughead's movements grew sharper.

Betty had to turn her face to the side, crying out as Jughead's dick patted her clit, then her shorts dragged over it. It was a deadlier duo than the classic one-two punch.

Betty breathed unevenly, falling out of herself in Jughead's inescapable presence; he felt, smelt, and tasted like her own personal hot, moody Lonely Boy. Jughead's mouth had moved down to her neck, his fingers starting to discover the warm skin of Betty's bare stomach, when she orgasmed, jerking against him with an "Uhh, Juggy."

* * *

A red blush bled up Betty's face as she shook beneath him. Watching her expression, Jughead almost came too, his dick nestled in the warm, wet paradise between her thighs. Sheer surprise held him back. Betty's eyes opened and she turned to look up at him, her irises green like spring in the middle of all this winter. Her lips parted and Jughead pressed them desperately with his own.

Her body felt overheated against his, so Jughead sat up, kneeling between Betty's knees so that the blankets were lifted away from her. Uncovered, Betty twitched and Jughead's cock tried to pull towards her as he watched the change in temperature raise her nipples under her pale blue pajama top.

Betty wrapped her arms around her ribcage.

"Are you trying to give me hypothermia?"

Jughead snorted. "Are you kidding? You're like a million degrees. Lucky you don't read more or else it'd be _Fahrenheit 451_ in here."

Betty flicked the back of her hand against Jughead's chest, her action floppy and imprecise.

"I read."

"I know." Jughead smiled. "But it's hard to keep your nose stuck in an Oxford Shakespeare when you can watch gorgeous, young, ultra-blonde Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie version instead."

Betty rolled her eyes. "Can't say I've ever had a crush on Leo."

"Oh, that comment was totally self-directed."

Betty laughed, taking Jughead's hand in hers.

"Except for the 'gorgeous, young, ultra-blonde' part. That was about you."

"Jughead Jones," Betty smirked, "are you flirting with me?"

Jughead bit his lip, smiling.

"I'm not super experienced with the whole boyfriend thing, but it seems like a good idea to let a girl know you're _definitely_ interested before you start taking her clothes off."

Betty raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. Come here." Jughead eased Betty up to a sitting position, then let go of her hand. He felt her trembling exhale on his chest. Her eyes were trained there as well until she suddenly lifted them to his face. Holding his gaze, Betty raised her arms straight up.

Jughead leaned in to her, angling his face to kiss Betty deeply while his hands went to her hips. He found the hem of Betty's shirt, sliding it up until he could hold her in his arms and feel bare skin all the way around. The heat of their activities and her subsequence climax had made Betty sweat, and her back felt tacky like a licked stamp. Jughead removed his mouth from hers and pressed it into the concave where her neck met her shoulder, breathing deeply.

Betty drew her legs carefully back through his and scrambled up onto her knees, lowering her arms and holding his shoulder for balance as she pressed their torsos together. Jughead's dick strained when Betty's breasts compressed against him under her shirt. He leaned back slightly and lowered his eyes as he lifted her top over her chest, head, and swished it up her arms when she raised them again. He absently tossed it to be relocated to some part of Betty's floor.

Betty's hands went to his shoulders, then his biceps, then across to his chest. Jughead smiled at the look of her tangled pillow hair―sex hair, by any other name―and released a concentrated breath as though he were about to jump off a cliff or receive an injection. He pressed his palms to her ribs, feeling their curve as Betty breathed heavily under his hands. Slowly, Jughead ran them up her body to push her breasts up and Betty inhaled roughly like she might sneeze. Gently, she took his hands in hers and repositioned them to cover her breasts.

Jughead squeezed, breathing hard, and Betty sat back, looking up at him. He stroked along the outer curve of her breasts, making Betty sigh. She lowered herself onto her back and Jughead let his palms run fully over her chest. When the heels of his hands bumped over her nipples, Betty's chest heaved up against him.

Jughead placed his hands on the backs of her knees, smoothing her legs out on either side of him so that he could bend over her, licking the nipples that were as pinkly alive as Betty's now moaning mouth. The bed shook beneath him when Betty was overcome and channeled her energy by beating at the mattress frantically with her heels for several seconds.

While he busied his teeth and tongue, Jughead pressed his hands to his girlfriend's warm sides, letting his palms ride the gentle curve of her waist like a rollercoaster. He tucked his hands under her back to touch the scored dip of her spine, dragging a finger along it until he encountered her lower back. Betty was grasping him tightly, but allowed Jughead to move away when his fingers plucked sensuously at the band of her shorts.

* * *

Betty exhaled, catching her breath, as she watched Jughead shift back and his black, wavy hair swoop over his forehead. She could feel his fingers wriggling to get under the material at her hips and wanted to both stop him immediately and make him go much, much faster. Betty blinked hard, staring down the length of Jughead's body, sepia-warm in the low light of her lamp. She wished that she could draw, or at least draw the world with words in the artistic way that Jughead could, rather than her no-nonsense Hemingwayesque style where every word, every clause had a purpose. Jughead looked good with no purpose at all, or at least needing no purpose. Right now the wonders of his physique―through visual appreciation alone―were serving the purpose of working Betty back up. Fast.

His gaze was serious, trained on her abdomen as he started to pull her shorts down over her hips. Betty panicked.

"Juggy, wait!"

Jughead's eyes locked on hers instantly.

"What is it? Did you hear your parents coming home?"

"No." Betty laughed. Compared to _that_ , the nerves she felt at the idea of Jughead seeing her entire naked body seemed pretty manageable. "I just… would you mind if we turned the light off?" She darted a look sideways at her bedside table.

Jughead's wide mouth turned down slightly. "Yeah, of course. Whatever you want."

Betty felt conflicted. She knew this was a big night for him too. She reached over and felt around on the table.

"I have this though." Betty let her voice lift like a question as she held up a glass jar containing a sturdy, dark candle.

Jughead leaned towards her hand, squinting at the label. "Licorice?"

"Are you making fun of my choice in scented candles?"

Jughead laughed. "No, it's just not what I would have pegged you for."

Betty let the jar click back down sharply on the table. "Oh? And what was it you were expecting?"

Jughead stroked his chin. "Either something that pairs well with a pink candle, like bubble gum or roses―"

Betty narrowed her eyes at him.

"What are you giving me that look for? Don't pretend it wouldn't go with everything else in your room." He gestured around and Betty shrugged in acquiescence.

" _Or_ , something that smelt really fastidious."

"Fastidious? Gee, Juggy, that's a great scent name. Maybe you can sell that idea to Calvin Klein."

Jughead flicked Betty's knee and she flicked him back in the stomach.

"I mean it would be a really sharp clean smell. Minty or citrusy." He looked at her seriously. "I would think a scent that's focused and powerful might actually be the most calming for you because you yourself are calmed by feeling in control."

Betty felt transparent and couldn't remember why her arm was stretched out.

"Instead you go for licorice, which is kind of sexy." Jughead raised an eyebrow at her. "You're not going Dark Betty on me, are you?" The corner of his mouth twitched up.

"How―" Betty was laughing, flailing her arms at Jughead in wild attempt to tip him over. "―dare you!"

Jughead was laughing too, until he managed to secure her wrists on either side of her head, his torso held inches above her own. Betty maneuvered her legs out from under him and bent her knees up, spreading her hips wide so that Jughead settled between them. She felt the prod of his erection.

Jughead's chest brushed against hers as he exhaled in a pant. He held her eyes for a second, then flung himself off of her, leaning over the side of the bed. He came back up holding a lighter and this time leaned forward, covering Betty's body with his as he lit the candle on her table. Her lamp went out and she heard the lighter clatter onto the wooden surface, then Jughead's face appeared, side-lit, above her.

His look was so intense, it would have scared Betty if it had been on anyone else's face. Betty knew it meant that Jughead was completely engaged, locked onto her unwaveringly. As close as they were, or were trying to be, he'd never looked at her quite like this. If he were a hunter and she were a rabbit, she couldn't have run.

In the quivering light, Jughead's hair was like smoke. Dark, moving, with undefined edges. Betty brought her hand to the side of Jughead's face, rubbing his cheek and pushing back his hair. Jughead's eyes still held hers as he pressed his lips to the inside of her wrist. She smiled conspiratorially.

"Ok."

He wasn't looking away yet, so Betty nodded eagerly. Jughead's palm landed lightly on her chest. Betty's heart tried to jump up to touch it, unaware of the skin and bone and blood that kept it safely confined like an exotic fish in an aquarium. Her heart wanted to be his. Betty, who had the benefit of a brain, knew that it already was.

Jughead ran his palm down between her breasts and over her stomach. Even there, Betty could feel the pound of her heart. He grasped the sides of her shorts and Betty pressed her shoulders in the mattress, lifting her hips so Jughead could get her pajamas off. She watched her shorts go up her thighs to her knees, then over the top and down her shins like a mountainside gondola. Jughead held her feet in his hands as he raised them to free her clothing.

The sound of her pajamas rumpling on the floor was sweet, like the scents of candles that she didn't own. The way Jughead's hot stare dove between her legs was sexy, like the candle she did.

Betty breathed that scent in until she was dizzy. Despite her self-administered anesthetic, when Jughead's tongue roughed over her clit, the sensation hit her un-numbed. Betty's back arched, even her hips leaving the bed ever so slightly. Jughead grabbed her, continuing steadfastly with a lick to her entrance while his fine, straight nose dragged against her clit. Betty thought of how much she loved that nose, until Jughead's tongue slipped inside her, tickling her front wall, then Betty loved bedsheets. The muscles in Betty's hands were nearly driven to cramp by how suddenly and tightly she gripped the sheet on either side of her.

Jughead's tongue teased her clit to an almost unbearable tingle and Betty closed her eyes. She tossed her head to one side, the feeling starting to overwhelm her. The world was a flammable red-orange as candlelight soaked through Betty's eyelids.

Jughead's face moved away after a last lingering lick and Betty opened her eyes blurrily to see her boyfriend up on his knees, shifting his boxers down his hips. Betty's chest rose and fell with want as Jughead revealed himself; his body was full of long, straight lines, apart from the sharp inward slices from his hips to his groin.

Jughead negotiated his boxers down his legs, banishing them over the side of Betty's bed, then his hand was on her thigh. The muscles between Betty's legs tensed and pulsed as she let Jughead guide her legs flat onto the mattress. Her right foot kicked out, possessed by the ghost of her last orgasm. Jughead paused and Betty grabbed him by the wrist, speechlessly urging him forward.

He braced himself over her and Betty felt so much a part of his every action that she found her hand sliding down his stomach and across his lower abdomen, resting above and parallel to Jughead's hand as he aligned his cock against her opening.

Jughead pushed in slowly, Betty's muscles at first going _no, no, no_ before switching to _yes, yes, yes_ when his hips angled up and the head of his cock dug into her g-spot. Betty half wished Jughead still had a shirt on so that she could clasp some part of him. Her hands skittered up his chest, then around to his back after Jughead laid into her with the first thrust that told her he _meant_ it.

Betty's eyes were operating on the same wavelength as her hands, though skipping around his face instead of his body. Jughead's expression was the complex progression of a sci-fi character seeing their first alien: awed disbelief, brain-trying-to-overrule-eyes disbelief, worry, obsession, wanting to tell everyone, wanting to tell no one to let the experience belong only to them.

"How―" she paused to moan as Jughead rubbed against her with a slow drag, "―does it feel?"

Jughead grasped Betty's shoulder, pressing as far into her as he could before letting his head hang down, his hair sweeping her forehead. Betty looked into his eyes―nighttime teal.

"I'm in love with you," he blurted. The edges of his mouth turned down. "That's not exactly what I meant to say."

Betty bent her knee, twisting one leg around Jughead's stilled hips.

"You're supposed to be the artist with words." Her gaze shifted quickly from his eyes to his mouth and back. She licked her lower lip.

"I owe so much of my brilliance to control Z."

Betty rolled her hips, scratching her clit against him and trying to force his cock to strike her g-spot.

"So you want to take it back?"

Jughead groaned as Betty made a second, more aggressive attempt at getting him to hit her right where she wanted it.

"Course not. It feels… it feels…" Jughead angled himself up on his elbows, speeding up his thrusts since it seemed Betty would just carry on without him if he didn't.

Betty pressed her palm to the side of his face.

"Tell me later, Juggy."

He just nodded, lowering his mouth to hers. His tongue pushed thickly into Betty's mouth and she wouldn't have been ready for it if Jughead hadn't driven sharply into her at the same moment, opening her mouth in a gasp.

Jughead started working hard and fast. Betty unhooked her leg, letting her thighs fall open loosely on either side of his shuttling body. She was rewarded for allowing her legs to lay limp; Jughead wasn't fighting her grasping or offbeat reactions, able to plunge in and out with unchecked power. Betty abandoned the idea of not grabbing onto him and scraped her nails up Jughead's back to his trembling, electrified approval.

Soon, Jughead's thrusts became wild and brutal as he went in for the kill, trying to force Betty over the edge. He clamped one hand onto her hip and groped at her chest with the other, pinching and rubbing her nipple. Betty shook, struggling to slide her sweaty back along the sheet that was attempting to stick to her while she tried to put herself in the way of every bit of pleasure Jughead's efforts were offering her.

Betty's hand clapped down on the back of Jughead's damp neck and she jerked her hips against his. Her mouth opened, moaning as her clit connected with him, feeling like it―and she―had been turned totally inside out. Jughead broke stride, delivering short flicking thrusts that bumped her g-spot relentlessly until Betty couldn't hang on anymore.

With a wail that sounded Amazonian in her ears, Betty came, throttling Jughead's cock to hold it deep in her channel. Denied another thrust, Jughead finished anyway, huffing out "Betty!" He moved slickly in and out when her muscles started to relax, shooting easily through her generous wetness, before stilling.

Jughead collapsed playfully on top of her. Betty laughed, lifting her head to rest her forehead against his shoulder.

"Help," he mumbled into her hair.

"I can't," she started giggling hysterically, "I'm too weak."

Jughead nuzzled his nose against her ear then kissed rapidly up and down the side of Betty's face. She turned to him, trapped his chin between her index finger and thumb, and gave Jughead a deep, slow kiss. He moaned into her mouth. Betty pulled back, smirking.

"So, Juggy."

Jughead opened his eyes to focus on her face.

"How does it feel?"

Jughead's pet expression of dark, concentrated broodiness moved in on his features. Without raising his body off of hers, he bucked his hips forward and back. Betty groaned.

"I might have to―"

"Again," she cut in.

His eyebrows raised.

"If this is the influence of the licorice candle, then―"

Betty's mouth slammed into his. She brought her knees up, holding Jughead's hips in a vice as she started to roll him onto his back. Jughead drew back from the kiss, panting.

"Wait."

Betty stilled.

"It feels like I'm _never_ moving away from you. Not to Toledo, not to anywhere, unless you're coming with me."

Betty nodded, quickly and emphatically, the space between her eyebrows pinching as she resisted the sob that rose up in her.

Jughead ran his hand along her collarbone.

"Is that what you were going to say too?"

Betty exhaled carefully.

"No, I was going to say it felt like I imagine winning my first Pulitzer is going to feel."

Jughead grinned.

"And that is why I'm hitching my star to yours, honey."

He leaned over and blew out the candle.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed my first story in three weeks! Thank you to everyone who's been reading my work. My deepest appreciation to those who comment or message me. Awe and gratitude to those who have asked me to write more.

I think _Home Fires Burning_ will be my last direct episode tie-in until season 2 starts; I don't want to keep chopping and changing the same set of episodes in the meantime. This means that over the next few months I am OPEN TO YOUR SUGGESTIONS! Let me know if there's a situation you'd like to see Betty and Jughead get into or a particular prompt I should have them explore.

Thank you again for reading. I am deeply, deeply grateful to you.

 **Update, June 13th:**

There will be a new story coming your way this weekend! Hopefully it will be a completed one... but at this point I can promise at least 8000 words. It's a departure from the _Riverdale_ fics I've written so far (still very much an M rating though, never fear), but I won't say more than that!

 **Update, June 16th:**

Well, the new story is up, but you're not going to find it if you've been using Bughead filters. That's right, the 'departure' I mentioned taking was shifting to writing a fic about Archie and Veronica! The story is called _Every_ _Minute_ and it's rated M (for the same reason as the rest of my work). Don't despair, the switch was for this story alone and I already have another Betty and Jughead scenario in mind. I wanted to give A  & V a little more depth and a little more punch. Really, we should all want them to stay together (if only because it keeps them from splitting up Bughead), so I've worked a little magic in the interest of rationalizing and beefing up the Archie and Veronica romance. As always, I hope you enjoy.

XO ForASecondThereWe'dWon


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